Myth: "1 in 7 children are solicited online for sex. Sexual Predators are exploiting the Internet to victimize children."
Reality:
"Unwanted communications of a sexual nature" ... not online sex.
40% from teens, 30% young adults, 8% older adults.
66% were not upset or frightened. Many teens handle the messages effectively.
Reality
2006 online sexual predation with real teen victims = 1% of all arrests for sexual abuse of minors.
Myth: "22 percent of girls posed nude or seminude for photos"
Reality ... this data was obtained via an opt in web survey ... i.e. = statistically useless.
Myth: Cyberbullying is an epidemic.
Reality ... larger scale studies consistently find around 20-25% of teens report being cyberbullied in their lifetimes and 10% within the last month.
The degree of distress from these incidents also ranges and not all events cause great distress.
Myth: More young people are killing themselves because of the Internet.
Reality ... teen suicide has actually be dropping since the 1990's and has consistently been substantially lower than adult suicide. The latest data has the rate at 7.21 suicides per 100,000 teenagers ... or 0.00721%.
Nancy Willard:
"The widespread fear about young people online is not supported by the research data."
Exaggeration (from source) can actually be making this worse:
|| Exaggerationcan increase risk
It may seem counterintuitive but research has shown that exaggeration and scare tactics can actually increase risk (see this brief slideshow). Exaggerating bullying makes it like like it's normal: "Everyone's does it so it must be OK." Norms research from Professors H. Wesley Perkins and David Craig has shown that emphasizing that most kids don't bully actually decreases bullying. As Cyberbullying Research Center co-director Justin Patchin said in my CBS News/CNET podcast, kids have a tendency to way overestimate the percentage of kids who bully (for more on why that's a problem, see this from my ConnectSafely.org co-director, Anne Collier). When reporting on suicide risk, it's important for media to study guidelines and be sensitive to risk of copycat suicides. ||
An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense “intuitive linear” view. So we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century — it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate).
78% of teens have a cellphone, of those, 47% are a smartphone (37% of all teens).
23% of teens have a tablet computer.
More than 1/2 of Americans use social networking.
Internet usage for teens (95%) has not changed substantially over the past decade, the only major change is that the percentage of older people (65+) using the Internet has doubled.
"Swimming pools can be dangerous for children. To protect them, one can install locks, put up fences, and deploy pool alarms. All of these measures are helpful, but by far the most important thing that one can do for one's children is to teach them to swim."
DARE ... and Fear as a tactic = doesn't work (GAO, Surgeon General, National Academy of Sciences, US DOE).
Current Internet Safety Trainings reflect DARE type thinking. Scare the kids straight.
Things you can help teach students (2nd half of Willard book):
Information Credibility
Addictive Use
Protect Reputation & Personal Information
Posers, Trolls, Creeps, and other online idiots.
Online Shopping
Passwords
Backups and Security
Terms of Use and Legal Compliance
Garbage (i.e. Porn)
Social Media Privacy
Online dating
Digital Citizenship generally (lots of other stuff).
Task: In small groups, design a way to help kids learn about one of the topics listed above (things that cause us technopanic). Use the whitepaper to sketch and present your concept. The design constraints for the task are that:
Must address an issue of Internet Safety relevant to kids.
Must be capable of being delivered at a school (function within filter and device constraints).
Must be a resource bank of some kind that kids can return to.
Must NOT be just a different spin on something that already generally exists for one of your teammates.
Must be ready to present your concept within 5 minutes.
Must present your concept in less than 1 minute (elevator speech style).
Innovations for Learning Conference
Dr. Justin Bathon
June 4, 2013
Story - Police On School Internet Safety
2. Some real data:
Nancy Willard:
"The widespread fear about young people online is not supported by the research data."
Exaggeration (from source) can actually be making this worse:
It may seem counterintuitive but research has shown that exaggeration and scare tactics can actually increase risk (see this brief slideshow). Exaggerating bullying makes it like like it's normal: "Everyone's does it so it must be OK." Norms research from Professors H. Wesley Perkins and David Craig has shown that emphasizing that most kids don't bully actually decreases bullying. As Cyberbullying Research Center co-director Justin Patchin said in my CBS News/CNET podcast, kids have a tendency to way overestimate the percentage of kids who bully (for more on why that's a problem, see this from my ConnectSafely.org co-director, Anne Collier). When reporting on suicide risk, it's important for media to study guidelines and be sensitive to risk of copycat suicides. ||
3. A Finger in the Dam
Task: Ladder of Activity for Users of Online Social Media
4. What about the Law?
Lots of technology issues with school law:
Big Takeaways:
4. Teach them to Swim
Teaching Digital Safety:
Task: In small groups, design a way to help kids learn about one of the topics listed above (things that cause us technopanic). Use the whitepaper to sketch and present your concept. The design constraints for the task are that:
5. Embrace Technology
McLeod - Rethinking Technology Restrictions in Schools
Does your school block:
Futureshock - (1972)
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